- In the US, the number of female bank robbers has increased by 25 per cent since 2002, up to 6.2 per cent of all bank heists. (CNN, 20th February 2009)
- This February, John Allwood of Queensland broke his own world record for smashing watermelons with his head—he smashed 47 in 60 seconds. (Metro, 23rd February 2009)
- One in eight British workers puts in more than the supposed European maximum of 48 hours a week. (Daily Telegraph, 26th February 2009)
- In 2008, the average price of a book sold in Britain was £7.49, the lowest since 2001. (LRB, 26th February 2009)
- The US state that consumes the most online pornography is Utah. (New Scientist (US), 27th February 2009)
- People who live in Utah report the highest levels of wellbeing in the US. (NYT Economix blog, 10th March 2009)
- A third of the world's 50m-odd stamp collectors live in China. (Slate, 3rd March 2009)
- In 2007, Italy had no fewer than 574,215 official limousines for a governing class of around 180,000 elected representatives. (LRB, 26th February 2009)
- 15 per cent of Americans say they have no religious identity, nearly twice the number who said that in 1990 (8 per cent). (USA Today, 9th March 2009)
- By 2007, 26 per cent of children had no siblings, compared to 18 per cent in 1972. (Observer, 15th March 2009)
- Five out of more than 3,000 students who started at Oxford this year are black Caribbean in origin. The equivalent figure at Cambridge is eight. (The Guardian, 12th March 2009)
- Glasgow has the world's oldest police force. It was founded in 1800, 29 years before the London Metropolitan Police. (Wikipedia)
- The first British mobile phone call was made by comedian Ernie Wise. (Sent in by Richard Mollett, London SE1)
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